Myakka Minnow
Hook: Daichi 1180 No. 8-12
Thread: Ultrafine mono
Weight: .20 lead wire
Tail: Marabou trimmed short
Body: Bodi-Braid by Spirit River
Eyes: 3D prismatic stick-on
Tying instructions: Begin thread layer and tie in a clump of marabou (color of your choice). Trim short to about 1/4 inch. Then add about 6-8 wraps of .20 lead wire. Tie in Bodi-Braid at rear of the hook and begin to build up a minnow-shaped body over the entire hook shank. The tail portion of the fly is thinner and the head is larger. Add 3D stick-on eyes and coat the body with Devcon 2-Ton Epoxy. Allow to dry. Body colors include pearl, gold or copper. I usually use chartreuse marabou, but white, yellow and other colors work as well.
Fishing instructions: The fly works anywhere that fish feed on small minnows. I like to fish it under a strike indicator and I set the depth according to the depth of the water. Cast out and allow to sink. Strip slowy in an erratic fashion: strip, strip, pause. Repeat. Often you’ll see bass or panfish blasting minnows along the shoreline or around vegation. In that case, you can make your cast and retrieve quickly.
The fly can be tied on any size hook. In freshwater, I’ve caught largemouth bass, bluegill, stumpknocker, shellcracker, gar, tilapia, channel catfish, oscar and Mayan cichlids. A year ago, I tied a Myakka Minnow on a No. 2 Mustad 34011 and caught several barramundi. In saltwater, I’ve caught snook, spotted seatrout, redfish, ladyfish, jack crevalle, Spanish mackerel, little tunny, bluefish, pinfish, grunts and mangrove snapper.
In September of 2006, I received a call from a friend who was fishing on the Madison River in Montana. He said he’d just released a 24-inch brown trout. “You’ll never guess what I caught it on?” he said. “I caught it on your Myakka Minnow!”
The fly is not magic, but often has saved the day whenever the topwater bite slows.
